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Texas woman, 31, arrested for posing as high school teen

Charity Johnson is shown in her booking photo, provided by the Longview Police Department in Longview, Texas. Photo: Reuters

(Reuters) – A 31-year-old woman has been arrested after several months posing as a teenage student at a private high school in Texas, local media reported.

Charity Johnson enrolled in October as a sophomore at New Life Christian School in Longview under the name “Charite Stevens,” with identification that said she was 15 years old, broadcast station KLTV said.

Johnson told school officials she had been home-schooled and had no prior transcripts. A school district representative could not immediately be reached for comment.

Tamica Lincoln, a woman who lives in the area, told KLTV she took Johnson in after she claimed to be a teenage orphan from an abusive household, enrolled her in school and met with her teachers.

“I took her in as a child, did her hair, got her clothes and shoes,” Lincoln said.

But Lincoln said she started to doubt Johnson’s story and alerted police. Johnson was arrested Sunday after identifying herself to police as the alias she used to enroll in school, the TV report said. Johnson was charged with failure to identify and giving false information, according to jail records.